Worlds Apart
by Batteriez Not Included
Summary: Mermaid!Anna. Anna was told that humans were inherently evil and to stay away from them no matter what. Kristoff was taught that the Merfolk were misunderstood and hated by the king for reasons unknown. Elsa had been taught that the ocean dwelling she-devils were horrible demons to be hunted and killed. Yet, fate has a funny way of revealing the truth, even to those not looking.
1. Chapter 1

**Part 1: The Fisherman**

Catch of the Day

Kristoff gripped the rigging of his small fishing boat, _The Ice Harvester _and once again checked the nets to see if he had caught anything. Somewhere nearby, Kristoff heard Sven grunt, as the large brown husky (the size of a reindeer in Kristoff's opinion) grabbed a loose rope in his teeth and brought it to Kristoff to tie off.

"Thanks bud," Kristoff smiled at his companion, and took the rope from his only friend's jaws.

Kristoff sighed as he began to secure the rope. He was one of the few fishermen left in Arendelle that didn't belong to the Weselton Fishing Company, which made his job a great deal harder. The Duke of Weselton had long since claimed several areas for his fishermen alone, and the King made no move to oppose him, considering they both were widely known for hating the sea. He sighed as he tied the knot and continued around his small vessel to check and make sure that it was sailing smoothly. Kristoff may not have had the cheapest of prices, but the fish he did sell was at a fair price, and he did have returning clients such as Oaken's Trading Post and Sauna, but even with Oaken's help it was getting harder to make ends meet.

Kristoff was suddenly pulled from his thoughts when he heard Sven's booming bark over the waves hitting the boat. Kristoff, knowing what that meant, rushed to the net to find (sure enough) the net was straining against its hooks on the side of the boat.

Quickly he grabbed the ropes and began to pull the net onto the deck. He managed to haul it up an inch before the net jerked causing the small fishing boat to lurch violently.

"Ah, Sven, help please!" Kristoff half yelled half yelped to his furry companion.

Sven rushed to the rope and gripped it with his muzzle, digging his paws into the wooden deck and growling angrily at the net that stubbornly refused to rise out of the water. After several minutes of pulling and cursing, the net slowly rose out from the watery depths and Kristoff pulled the net into the long tank to reveal-

Kristoff's breath caught in his throat, and even Sven seemed at a loss, for in the net, hissing and snarling was, "A mermaid," he whispered reverently, "A real live mermaid."

The mermaid that was tangled up in his net was by far the most beautiful and terrifying creatures he had ever laid eyes on. Its fish tail was a bright green, its skin strangely tanned and freckled, its hair was a dark strawberry blond tied in two braided pigtails, and its aquamarine eyes were narrowed angrily.

Kristoff was yanked out of his staring when the mermaid began to thrash in the net, and its glare focused on him and it hissed loudly. Kristoff felt himself jump a few steps back, at its violent sound. Kristoff couldn't believe his luck; the king had put a large bounty for any of the sea she-devils that were brought before him. It was widely known that the king held a spectacular hatred for the she-demons, though no one seemed to know why, though the hatred was shared by the Duke of Weselton, and commander of the Arendelle fleet, Admiral Hans Westergard. It was perfect he reasoned; turn in the mermaid for the bounty and he would finally be able to buy the last much needed supplies for the winter. The mermaid hissed at him again and Kristoff smiled, as he stared at the she-demon, its lips curled into a snarl, and it eyes filled with anger and... Fear.

Kristoff's smile faltered. She was afraid of him. Sven let out a loud bark and the mermaid jumped slightly, causing some of the water in the tank to spill out. She looked at Sven wide eyed, and when he barked again she flattened herself against the far side of the tank away from the large hound. Kristoff suddenly remembered something Granpabbie had once told him about mermaids.

"_The creatures of the deep are neither good nor evil, just like the men that roam on land. It is the fact they are different from humans that make them as feared as they are. The Mer are wondrous creatures and very intelligent, but they also know that they are hunted, which make them avoid interaction with the surface dwellers all together. Those that are seen are rarely allowed to live, and it forces them to fear and hate humans all together."_

Kristoff looked at Sven for a long time, his thoughts only interrupted by the hissing of the mermaid, and the lapping of the ocean against the boat. Sven cocked his head to one side and let out a small whine. Kristoff knew what that meant, and slowly reached into his boot and pulled out his knife.

The mermaid's eyes widened even more, and the fear became more pronounced on her face when the knife came out of his boot. She continued to try to press herself to the far end of the tank away from him and Sven, making herself as small as possible.

"Look," said Kristoff softly trying to look as non-threatening as possible (while holding a knife), "I'm not going to hurt you, I promise. I'm just going to cut the net, okay? Please don't bite me."

The mermaid blinked, and the anger changed to confusion, and though the fear remained. Kristoff cautiously approached the tank and felt around the net for the opening. After a few minutes groping the net, he finally found what he was looking for. The mermaid's tail had been caught in a rather painful looking way, which was why she hadn't simply swam away, Kristoff reasoned, as it would have ripped her fins. He slowly grabbed the part of the net that had caught and turned to the mermaid.

"I need you to stay still okay," he continued in his calm voice, "I'm going to cut the net, and I don't want to cut you too."

He wasn't really sure if she understood him, but he turned back to the net and began to gently saw off the net that had snagged on the mermaid's fin. After a few more minutes the net finally slipped off of her tail, and Kristoff pulled the net off of her. The moment the net was free the mermaid jerked violently, one of her fins hitting his hand causing his knife to go flying.

"No!" He cried and rushed for it, but he saw it flash once before he saw a splash, signaling that it was now sinking into the depths. Kristoff felt his shoulders sag, he had liked that knife. He turned and saw the mermaid staring at him intently.

"It's alright," he sighed, putting on a smile, "I'll get a new one. I've had that one for so long it's probably time to trade it in anyway."

The mermaid frowned and tilted her head, looking slightly confused, "it was a gift from my dad, or so Granpabbie tells me; I never met my parents so I wouldn't know."

The mermaid continued to look at him, though he now thought he saw a trace of sadness in her eyes. He slowly walked up to the tank and reached out to her. She jerked back and hissed at him, her seashell bra clinking against the rim of the tank.

"Relax feisty-pants, I'm just going to pick you up and then drop you back in the ocean, okay?" Kristoff said, smiling kindly to the jumpy Mer.

He reached for her again, and though she eyed him warily, she did not struggle against him when he gently lifted her up and carried her to the edge of the boat. She suddenly bucked and the mermaid flew from his grasp, knocking him against the deck. He heard a splash, and rushed to the side of the boat, and saw the last of the ripples fade from where she had hit the water. He sighed again, and got to work putting on a second net to cast out to the water. He tied the net to the side of the boat, and then went to unfurl the sails, deciding that it was best to fish in a different part of the sea. Even when he caught several fish, both enough to pay for his supplies, and the cost to repair his net, he found himself unable to stop thinking of the mermaid. Kristoff shook himself, and turned _The Ice Harvester_ back toward the fjords of Arendelle to sell his wares. Even though he mostly concentrated on yelling orders to Sven, and navigating his way back to port, he couldn't help wishing that he had gotten her name.

**BatteriezNotIncluded here. Yeah, I know, I should be working on The Mourning Angel's Tears (I need an acronym for that) but this idea wouldn't leave me alone until I wrote it down so I guess I'll be working both fics. Please Follow, Favorite, and leave constructive criticism.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Two things:**

**1 I do not own **_**Anything**_**! All rights go to their respective owners**

**2 I Beta my own stuff so please forgive any glaring errors on any of my works.**

**Review and leave a favorite; they are very much appreciated!**

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How _not_ to start a conversation

"Come on Anna, you can do this," the strawberry blonde mermaid muttered to herself, "You were _born_ ready!"

It had been a week since the fisherman had caught her in his net, and although considering all the horrible things she had heard about humans, he had let her go. At first she had been thrilled, and had swum away as fast as she could from the boat, relieved that her mother wouldn't find out about her illegal escapade to the surface. However, after a couple days, Anna had started to feel a bit bad for the fisherman. He had saved her when no doubt he would have been highly rewarded for giving her to the human king to torture, kill or worse (as she had heard the humans under his command tended to do) and all she had done was hiss and glare and struggle and even made him loose his knife. She hadn't even talked to him, or asked him his name, a little tidbit she was now regretting now that she thought back to the incident. So here she was, hiding under the water, near the docks that marked the beginning of Arendelle. Impossibly far into the fjords which the Arendelle king laid claim to. Where she had been told repeatedly _never _to go.

Anna took a deep breath and slowly swam up to the surface careful to hide under the boards of the docks. She quickly looked around the small marina, and finally found the small fishing boat that the man had been sailing, moored on the other end of the docks.

Anna dove back under and swam furiously trying to avoid detection. She finally made it to the boat and hid underneath it, pondering what to do next.

A series of rapid clicks nearly caused her to jump out of the water in shock, and she turned and glared at the albino dolphin that had surprised her.

"Yes, I know I'm not supposed to be here Olaf," Anna whispered to the dolphin, "but I have to do this okay, just don't get either of us caught okay?"

Olaf chittered quietly and swam deeper into the water. Anna took another deep breath, and braced herself, before leaping out of the water and grabbing on the ridge of the far side of the boat. After a few terse seconds of looking, she realized the boat was empty. She quickly let go of the ledge and swam back underneath it.

"Okay, he's not on the boat," she said to herself, "now what do I do?"

Olaf chittered again and Anna glowered at him, "you're not helping. And no I can't just wait for him, there's more humans than just him here, I might be seen, and mama would _kill_ me if that happened."

Anna shuddered at the thought, and swam under a nearby dock, slowly swimming high enough that her head was above water, and peered around the docks. Anna sighed, _he's not here_ she thought sadly, and turned and swam toward the waters where the fjord turned to open ocean.

Olaf suddenly clicked frantically and Anna looked up to see a large warship sailing into the fjord.

"Eep!" Anna yelped and swerved around the ship and quickly dove deeper and swam away from the monstrous ship as fast as she could. She stopped at the farthest dock and hid underneath it, hugging one of the wooden supports, panting softly. She slowly calmed down from her scare. She had been so distracted she hadn't noticed she had nearly swum right into a _warship_. A massive, coral destroying, Mer hunting _warship_.

Anna was suddenly pulled from her thoughts by a cry of "Sven!" and large furry face suddenly appearing in her vision. Anna let out a shriek and shoved herself away from the wooden pillar, and into the open.

"Sven!" the voice called again, "what are doing boy? There's nothing out here-"

The man stopped when he reached the edge of the dock. Anna blinked and realized that she was in full view in front of the man who had helped her. Anna swallowed, c_ome Anna, you can do this!_ She thought to herself.

"Umm… hi," she said with a small wave, "I'm not sure if you remember me… well you probably do remember me considering you caught me in a net and I was totally hissing at you, sorry about that by the way, and- what in the name of Neptune is _that_?!"

The man blinked several times and then her words seemed to sink in, "what," he asked sounding confused, "what's what?"

She swam forward and pointed to the strange object, "_That_."

"That's my shoe," he said slowly, frowning slightly.

"_That's_ a shoe?" Anna gasped, "I've heard that humans wore them but I didn't think they would look like that! Why does it stick up like that on the tip? Why do humans wear them? What's that hard part on the bottom?"

The human blinked several times, looking slightly taken aback about her sudden rapid fire questions about his footwear. "Umm," he started slowly, "I don't really know, I didn't make them, we wear them to keep our feet warm and protected, and that's what the hard parts for."

"Oh okay," She said slowly, processing this new information, before realizing that she had gotten _way_ off topic.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to be rude or anything asking about your shoes- is that considered rude? Sorry, getting off track again. Anyway, I just wanted to say thank you for, you know, letting me go. You didn't have to and you did and it was really nice of you and I didn't thank you at all at the time, in fact I was pretty rude to you at the time with all the hissing and making your boat jerk around, sorry about that too by the way. But yeah… Oh and I brought you this!" Anna quickly cut off her ramble, and held up her hand, which held the man's knife, "I, uh, found it and figured I would give it back because I kinda hit it out of your hand, sorry about that too, anyway, here." Anna swam forward and held out to him to take.

The man blinked, and the sight of the knife seemed to bring him out his thoughts.

"My dad's knife," he grinned and knelt down on the deck and took it from her hand, "thanks. This knife, it, uh, it means a lot to me."

Anna nodded, "yeah, you said it was your dad's? Sorry, that was personal; you don't have to answer that." She snapped her teeth shut wondering just how many human social faux pas she had made in this one conversation, realizing she probably had to offer something in apology, she decided to give him the only thing she could think of.

"I'm Anna," said Anna smiling, "I'm sorry for talking so much, I ramble a lot, especially when I'm nervous."

The man smiled and put his knife in his boot and held out his hand to her, "Kristoff," he said, holding his hand out to her, "my name's Kristoff."

She frowned at the hand for a moment, before realizing she was supposed to do something with it. She tentatively held out her own hand to him, and he took it and shook it gently before letting go and pulling his hand and arm back.

Anna looked thoughtful for a moment before blurting out, "you hand is warm."

Kristoff's smile widened and he chuckled softly, "yeah? Yours feels warm to me, I wonder how that works?"

The strange furry creature suddenly let out a loud sound and Anna jerked back, eyeing the large sharp-toothed animal.

"Oh, right," Said Kristoff looking at the animal, "sorry buddy I didn't mean to forget you. This," he gestured to the animal, "is my dog, Sven. He's actually really nice; he's just annoyed because he hasn't been introduced yet."

"Oh," Anna blinked, and slowly swam up to the animal, "um, hello, Sven, was it?"

The dog leaned forward and sniffed her, before letting out another bark, and opened his mouth and allowed his tongue to hang out in the sea breeze. Anna giggled at the sight, and saw Kristoff gesture to her to come closer. Slowly she reached out to Sven, and the dog immediately darted forward and began licking her hand.

She shrieked and jerked back in alarm, "Eeew, he's _tasting_ me!"

Kristoff rolled his eyes, "no, he's kissing you; it's how dogs show affection."

"Oh, right." Anna ducked her head slightly embarrassed. She suddenly heard rapid clicks behind her and she turned to see her friend looking expectantly.

"Oh, um, this is Olaf, and he likes warm hugs," Anna gestured to the white dolphin behind her. Kristoff smiled and waved at him, and Olaf chattered happily.

Anna heard a bell ring out from farther inland and she realized that the sun was no longer centered in the sky, and she was going to be late for her lessons. Again.

"I need to go, I'd better go, umm, bye!" Anna turned to leave before she heard Kristoff call, "wait!"

Anna turned to him, and saw he look slightly embarrassed, and worried, "will I um, ever see you again?" he asked hopefully

Anna stared at him remembering every warning that her mother had ever given her about never going near humans, how they all hated the Mer, were greedy cruel violent beings, and should never be approached.

"Sure," Anna smiled, "You sail in the ocean right. I'll find you."

"So," Kristoff said slowly, "see you soon?"

"Definitely." Anna confirmed and dove under the water, and out of the fjord into the open ocean.


	3. Chapter 3

**BatteriezNotIncluded here; Just a fair warning to all of you, my internet is incredibly unreliable right now, so chapter uploads may take a bit longer. However, if you guys leave Favorites, Follows, and Reviews, I will find a way to upload my stuff sooner, even if I have to walk a mile and a half to the nearest coffee shop to use their Wi-Fi. **

**You guys are awesome, thank you for your patience! **

**FYI: I do not own **_**anything**_**! All rights go to their respective owners **

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Fishing for Answers

Kristoff could barely believe his luck; he had gotten back his knife, and he had learned the mermaid's name was Anna. Even more, he was going to see her again, though he wasn't sure if he should be happy about it. Yes, Anna seemed nice enough, but years of being taught of the darkness of the Mer did not go away easily. Kristoff looked at Sven and found his hound grinning at him with his pink tongue hanging out. Kristoff felt himself smile at the canine and continued down the docks toward his boat.

He finished unfurling his boat's sails and steered out of the fjord and into the ocean. The water was calm that day, and the wind was strong which allowed Kristoff to sail out of sight of land quicker than normal. Once he was far enough out, he pulled up the sails, and began preparing his net, when he heard a splash somewhere near the side of his boat. Kristoff smiled and looked up to see a strawberry blond grinning at him.

"Hi," She said, sounding a little breathless, "I have to say, hanging here is a lot better than being in that tiny tank." She blushed suddenly as though she hadn't meant to say that.

"Are all of the Mer as scatterbrained as you?" Joked Kristoff, which made the mermaid blush harder.

"I am not a scatterbrain," Anna pouted angrily, and Kristoff laughed at her expression.

"Then what was the whole thing with my shoes last time?" he countered jovially.

"I'm a _mermaid,_ Kristoff," she said pointedly, "We have fins, not feet, ergo we don't need shoes. They might be common on land but not down there."

"Oh, right," Kristoff blushed slightly tossing his net in the water, "I hadn't thought of that. Sorry."

Anna shrugged, "I guess I can understand that. Hey, I was wondering if you could answer some questions I have, is that okay?"

"Sure," Kristoff agreed, "Can I ask you some in exchange?"

"Okay," Anna nodded, then shifted her weight onto one arm, and pulled off a seaweed bag, that she had apparently been wearing, "could you tell me what these are?" she gestured at the miscellaneous objects inside the bag. Kristoff looked at the hodge-podge of objects and looked at Anna confused, "where did you get all these?" he wondered aloud.

"The Shipwreck Abyss," she said nonchalantly, "so what are they?"

He picked up a metal object and held it up for Anna to see, "this is a corkscrew."

"What's a cork? Why does it need to be screwed?" She asked.

Kristoff continued answering Anna's questions as best he could while he waited for his net to fill. It quickly became clear to him that Anna knew absolutely nothing about humans, aside from to stay away from them. As each object and its use became clear to her, Anna's look of wonder intensified. As he told her about the objects, a question suddenly came to his mind.

"Hey Anna?" he asked, "What do the Mer eat?"

"Oh," She looked surprised, "mostly seaweed, but we do eat some fish. What do humans eat, besides fish?"

"Meat, and some vegetables mostly, and bread." He answered, and sighed looking at her confused face, "you have no idea what I'm talking about do you?"

She grinned embarrassedly and nodded, "Not really."

"This," he said pulling out an orange vegetable out of his bag, "is a vegetable called a carrot, one of Sven and my favorite foods."

She reached over and grabbed the carrot and stared at it intently, "humans eat this?"

"Uhh, yeah, we do." Kristoff said slowly, "that's not to say that there aren't people who don't like to eat it, there are, but it _is_ edible."

"Huh," she said turning the vegetable around in her hand, "that's pretty neat!"

Kristoff smiled at her enthusiasm, "I'm glad you think so."

"So, what else?" Queried Anna with an air of exited fascination.

"What do you want to know?" Kristoff asked, to which Anna replied, "everything."

And so Kristoff told her everything. He told her of the market places where the fisherman and ice harvesters would sell their wares. He told her of the shops that sold everything imaginable, from pastries to perfumes, chocolate to clothing, and everything in between. Occasionally he would bring small knickknacks to show her, other times Anna would bring objects she found in shipwrecks and would ask him what they were. He told her of the festivals that would light up the streets and homes, causing people to be practically brimming with happiness, and how they would occasionally dance in the streets. This went on for many months, with Anna's fascination growing and Kristoff's curiosity about the Mer (specifically Anna) grew. He usually didn't ask about Anna's people, afraid to pry too hard, knowing her people were a touchy subject with her.

"Hey Anna," Kristoff asked one night after working up his courage, "Do you know why the King doesn't like your people?"

Anna's face hardened, and her eyes seemed to search him, before sighing and shaking her head, "I was hoping you would know that, actually. The only thing I know is what I was told about humans and why we don't show ourselves to your kind."

"Why don't your people show themselves?" He asked before he could stop himself, "I mean, I know what_ I_ was told, but what's your people's side of the story."

Anna sighed deeply, "I was told that long ago the Mer and humans used to coexist in peace, we had a treaty between our peoples, and it kept our people happy and yours satisfied. Only, one day, your people started breaking the treaty, thinking that we were holding out on your kind. One thing led to another, both sides seeking retaliation, and eventually the treaty was forgotten and the Mer withdrew from human kind."

"What did the treaty say? What did everyone think the Mer was holding out on?" He asked fascinated.

"Fishing and sailing rights mostly," Anna said gloomily, "the oceans exist because of a very precarious balance. Certain kinds of fish eat certain kinds of plants keeping them from becoming overgrown, and allow other kinds of plants to grow, which act as homes for _other_ kinds of fish, and so on and so forth. Anyway, the treaty basically said that humans couldn't fish at certain times of the year in certain places because of the mating seasons so the fish could have a chance to repopulate, so you could have your fish, and we would have enough fish to keep everything running smoothly, down here. The sailing rights were mostly about, not sailing near the sacred places of the Mer, because ships of certain sizes destroy the sea floor and our special places with it."

"Are Mer sacred places anything like ours?" wondered Kristoff as gave Sven a carrot.

"Not really, considering ours are coral reefs; the kinds live for over thousands of years and stuff." She replied, and sighed, "Your King had a warship sail over one of these places once, and the ship's bottom and anchor completely destroyed it. My people were furious, and sank the ship in retribution, and _that_ definitely didn't help peace talks."

"Ouch," Kristoff said sympathetically, and realized the tide was coming in, "Well, I need to get back. Same time Anna?"

"Definitely," the mermaid grinned, and she leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek and dove beneath the waves, with Kristoff smiling after her.


	4. Chapter 4

**FYI: I do not own Frozen or anything, all rights belong to Disney!**

Meeting Marshmallow

Anna smiled happily as she swam through the halls of her home. The palace of the Mer was a huge structure carved into the side of an underwater cliff. She glanced through an opening that allowed one to see the civilization below. Large rows of the kelp her people cultivated to eat, weave, and the sturdier kelp that the Mer used for building structures, which swayed slightly with the water they all lived in, as did the kelp buildings that made up the Agriculture District. The small lights of the Industrial District of the village glowed with the heat of the cooling magma of the underwater volcanoes that existed there, where the blacksmiths, armor smiths, and other makers resided. Then in front of the palace's gate was the Representative District, where representatives of the other clans resided to talk politics and other incredibly important (and also incredibly _boring_) issues with her mother as her outer council, mostly do with humans like Kristoff.

_Kristoff._ Anna had been thinking about the human for quite some time. At first she had thought it was because she was finally learning about the surface world from a source that wasn't either dead, or a tutor hired by her mother. However, she began to realize on the days she was unable to see Kristoff, that simply observing the docks as she had before she had met him, no longer held its appeal to her: what she really wanted was to see _him_. She would look around at her clan's home and she would see things that she wanted to show him, before remembering it was both physically impossible and taking a human into her clan's capital would be giving him a death sentence, and _that_ was something that made her insides writhe painfully.

_Am I in love with him?_ She suddenly wondered, and she stopped for a moment. She _did_ think about him a lot, and she did feel what her mother had described she had felt for her father (during the few times her mother talked about him). _Can I see myself with anyone else?_ She asked herself, and concentrated, until the realization hit her like a riptide. She couldn't. She blinked a few times and then felt herself smile tentatively. _I'm in love with a human,_ then her smile faded, _mama's going to kill me._

"Princess Anna," a familiar voice called to her, jolting her out of her train of thought. She turned to see a familiar portly merman with a green olive colored tail swimming toward her.

"Hello Kai," Anna waved at him smiling quickly trying to hide her thoughts, "did I forget something, again?"

"I'm afraid so," the old merman nodded sympathetically, "your mother wanted you to be present for today's meeting of the inner council. If you hurry you won't be late again."

"Yikes!" Anna yelped, "Aw man! Mama's gonna be furious if I miss another meeting!"

She quickly turned and swam as fast as she could to her mother's council chamber yelling "thanks Kai!" behind her as she shot out of sight, thanking Neptune that it was only an Inner council meeting, which only discussed issues with her clan, rather than the whole ocean.

Even swimming at her fastest, she was the last one there and was quickly greeted by her mother's disappointed scowl, as well as the disapproving looks of the council.

"Now that my daughter has decided to grace us with her presence, we can begin." Her mother spoke in her regal voice as she turned to the councilman, her purple fins glittering.

Anna cringed into her seat slightly. She knew her mother hated it when she was the last one to enter; something about it being rude to the councilmen, even if she was technically on time. Her mother rested her fins on the rock that sat before the large auditorium. The council room was massive; several rows of seats on each level of the large oval room, each divided into sections based on clan, rank, and occupation. As this was an inner council meeting, Anna and the rest of the Mer present were seated at a round stone table of sorts in the bottom floor of the large rotund building.

Anna suddenly felt something press against her fins, and barely stifled a scream. Risking a glance downward, she saw a bleached white nose staring up at her, clicking quietly.

"Olaf!" Anna whispered angrily, trying to stay as quiet as possible, "what in Neptune's tail are you doing here? Mama is already mad at me for coming last, again, I don't need her angry at me for thinking I snuck you in here."

The albino dolphin let out a few barely audible clacks, and looked at her pleadingly, "A friend of yours? If whoever it is got in enough trouble to get sent to mama I might not be able to help any but… his name is _what_?! I'll see what I can do, now can I please at least _try_ to pay attention without you distracting me, and making mama even _more_ mad at me?"

Olaf nuzzled her and snuck back under the table and out of sight. She sighed, this was already looking to be a long meeting, the councilmen were arguing about something to do with the fish herder unions, and hadn't even started on tithes yet. Suddenly there was a sharp rap at the council door and a royal guard entered, with several others waiting in the doorway.

"Your Majesty," said the Merman bowing respectfully, "we found a trespasser in the outer kelp fields."

"Well, who is it?" her mother asked, looking a little resigned, "another one of the Southern Isles Clansmen?"

"No, your majesty," the guard suddenly looking a little nervous, "it's a shark, one of the behemoth Great Whites."

The guard gestured to the doorway, and the rest of the guards filed in, tied between them was the largest, whitest shark Anna had ever seen, it looked as if it were an albino like Olaf. Its massive jaws and overall size made it appear terrifying, and its eyes were filled with… embarrassment?

Her mother looked as shocked as she was, as she took in the massive sea creature, "what exactly was a shark doing in the kelp fields?" asked her mother slowly.

"We're not exactly sure," admitted the guard, "but it looked as though he was trying to eat some of it. We were able to stop it from causing too much damage, however."

Her mother blinked, and several of the council members looked at each other with confusion and humor, "if this shark was destroying our kelp fields, then we have to execute it unfortunately, what with the shortage thanks to the human's pollution of our home."

The shark's eyes widened and suddenly it let out a loud panicked roar, and bucked, severing the ropes tying it, and sending the guards trying to hold it crashing into the walls.

Anna grimaced and muttered under the table, "You owe me big for this, Olaf" and rushed toward the panicking shark. The massive creature roared and charged at Anna. Without a second thought, she grabbed the creature nose and started rubbing it, stopping the behemoth mid charge.

"Shh," She whispered to the shark, "Olaf asked me to help you but I can't do that if you freak out, alright?"

The shark stared at her and it let out a rumble, and she let out a tiny nod, "yes I can understand you, but I would _really_ like it if no one knew about it okay? I don't want to get shipped off to the Priests of Poseidon as an acolyte; I get bored out of my mind from listening to my tutors drone on about stuff here. I wouldn't last a week over at the temple."

The shark let out a slightly humorous rumble, though it was slightly strained. Anna sighed, "I know you're scared, but I need you to stop trying to hurt the guards; they're just trying to do their jobs." The shark huffed, "yeah, the ropes were totally overkill, but then again, you are really big for a behemoth Great White, I mean you're practically the size of Kristoff's boat!" Anna realized what she had said and clamped a hand over her mouth while keeping her other hand on his snout, "Don't tell anyone about that, please!" she quietly begged the shark. He seemed to deliberate for a moment, then let out a rumble of agreement, and Anna sighed with relief, "Can I ask you a question? What exactly _were_ you doing in our kelp fields?" The shark seemed to squirm slightly before grudgingly letting out a deep yet soft whimper. Anna blinked, "You _were_ trying to eat it? I'm pretty sure sharks are carnivores though, why were you trying to eat kelp instead of fish?" Another whimper, and Anna had to stifle a laugh as she breathed her response, "your squeamish?" this time he growled and Anna quickly backtracked, "sorry, I meant; you don't like blood?" the shark rumbled again and let out a tiny shake of his head. "Oh, okay. For what it's worth; I don't like blood either," Anna murmured, and then smiled at him, "Okay, let's start this thing over; I'm Anna, Princess of the Fjord Clan and of the Mer people."

The shark's eyes widened slightly, let out a small rumble with his name, and gave an unmistakable bow. Anna heard gasps behind her and she whirled around. Her mother, her council, and the guards were staring at them, wide-eyed and open-mouthed. Anna cleared her throat and then spoke with as much authority as she could muster, "the behemoth is one of the last of his kind and should not be killed, for what could very well be a misunderstanding. I would ask all of you to forgive Marshmallow here for-"

"What did you call it?" her mother asked sharply staring intently at Anna. Anna squirmed slightly under her mother's gaze.

"Marshmallow," she repeated, "I thought it was a good fit 'cause you know, he's white and all…"

Her mother stared at her incredulously, and then groaned softly, "Very well; I will not have … Marshmallow executed for _this_ infraction, however; henceforth you will be responsible for him my daughter, as he seems to have taken a liking to you. That is my final word."

Marshmallow let out a soft sigh, and Anna turned and bowed to her mother, "As you command, mama."

"Anna," her mother continued, "you and I need to speak, alone, after this conference is done."

Anna felt a small amount of dread pool into her stomach at her mothers' words, but she smiled and nodded.

* * *

"Where in the name of Neptune did you hear the word 'Marshmallow'?" Her mother said sternly, glaring at Anna, "I told you to stop obsessing with human nonsense, and yet you name one of the largest adolescent behemoth sharks after a human sweet food?"

"It seemed to fit and he liked it," Anna began, and then stopped and frowned at her mother, "wait a second, how do _you_ know what a marshmallow is? You said you never went to the surface, even before the peace between the Mer and humanity ended."

Her mother's face paled and she spluttered for a moment, and Anna found her confusion turn to suspicion; her mother was the picture of sophisticated grace, she never spluttered.

"How I know what a marshmallow is, is irrelevant, immaterial, and beside the point!" The queen finally managed, "what I want to know is how _you_ know about them!"

Anna quickly searched her mind for a suitable excuse. The truth was Kristoff had brought her one after a strange festival. But she couldn't exactly tell her mother that, "I… uh… read about them, from the remnants of a journal I found in a shipwreck. Ooh, did you know that human's roast them over _fire_ to make them taste even better?"

Her mother groaned and rubbed he forehead as she began to swim back and forth, he purple tail sparkling in the eerie light. "How many times have I told you to stay away from the Shipwreck Abyss? Anything to do with those coral destroying, fish killing, Mer hunting _humans_ is to be avoided at all costs!"

"What if not all of the humans are against the Mer?" Anna demanded before she could stop herself, "what if there are still humans out there who will follow the treaty, and respect the Mer?"

"The White Cap bay incident, and the actions of the human's King Adgar have proven otherwise," her mother said pointedly, but Anna continued, "but what if those were actions of a few and not the whole people, after all not all Mer follow the White Cap Clan's lifestyle regarding humans." Anna saw her mother flinch at the mention of… _that_.

"That is an unfortunate blight on our people, you know that. It is the human's own ignorance to believe we all act in such a horrific manor towards humans."

"So what if it's the same with humans in regards to the Mer?" Anna persisted, "we don't know if there are any who might be willing to remain loyal to the old agreements because you won't give them a chance. All we do is herd the fish away from human fishing boats, but we both know the overpopulation is still a problem."

Her mother sighed, "I'm glad you paid attention to at least some of your lessons," she muttered, and then sighed again, this time in defeat.

"_If_ there are any humans who will follow the old ways, they would be doing the old ritual to prove they meant no ill will; all of the fish herders are taught from the start to recognize the signs of one still loyal, after all: humans may have forgotten the treaties, but we _Mer_ have not." Her mother pointed out, sounding tired, and Anna stared at her mother in confusion, "ritual?"

Her mother looked annoyed, "yes ritual, you know the small ritual the humans would do every time they sailed into one of our deeper lands to fish in the herding grounds so we would know not to sink their ships-"

Anna face palmed in realization, and then hugged her mother, much to the queen's surprise, "Thank you mama, I completely forgot about that! I gotta go, sorry, bye!" and rushed out of the room in a blur, Marshmallow and Olaf behind her, leaving a very perplexed queen.


	5. Chapter 5

The Duke of Weasel Town

Kristoff was not having a good day. He had just received a summons to go to the Weselton Fishing Co. warehouse to meet the duke himself, and he had a good idea why. The building that served as the headquarters for the Weselton Fishing Co. was by far the tackiest building Kristoff had ever seen in his life. He gritted his teeth, and motioned for Sven to follow him into the building. The receptionist looked at him with a vacant expression, and Kristoff waved the invite in front of the man's face.

"I got a message that I'm supposed to see the Duke-" He began, but the receptionist blinked, snatched the invite, and began to rummage through a rather large pile of papers on his desk. "Ah yes," the man droned looking at a large book, "Mr. Kristoff Bjorgman. The duke is indeed expecting you. Down the hall, third door to your left." The man waved the invite back at him and then went back to his… work.

Kristoff snatched the invite, and rolled his eyes. He whistled to Sven to follow him and he went into the room the secretary guy had directed them to. He knocked, and a nasally high voice responded, "Enter."

The Duke had to be the shortest man Kristoff had ever seen. He looked to be a cross of some kind of chicken with the face of a monkey, with the most ridiculous toupee and glasses that Kristoff had ever seen.

Swallowing a snigger at the tiny man's appearance, Kristoff spoke, "You wanted to see me, Mr. Duke?"

"A Duke is referred to as 'your grace'" the duke sniffed in response, and Kristoff resisted the urge to groan.

"Sit," the duke ordered gesturing at one of the low chairs in front of his desk, which when Kristoff sat, made him low enough to the ground that he was eyelevel with the man.

"You are the son of the late Boris and Maria Bjorgman correct," the Duke continued, as a servant brought several plates of food, "and are currently the owner of their fishing business?"

Kristoff nodded, knowing where this was going, seeing Kristoff was not going to speak, the duke continued, "it is probably hard for a single man and his…" the duke glanced at Sven.

"Partner," Kristoff supplied somewhat curtly. The duke blinked and leaned away from them both slightly.

"Yes," he drawled, looking distastefully at Sven, "it is very difficult for a lone man and his partner to run a fishing business such as this. I imagine that the years have not been kind to your profit margins, what with the hostilities with the ocean's she-devils."

It took a lot of Kristoff's restraint not to spit in the Duke's face for that one. Nevertheless, he allowed the pompous duke to continue. "For a hard working man such as yourself, you must see that your business is a bit of a lost cause, and I would be happy to purchase-"

"No," said Kristoff flatly, "I am not selling… ever. So if that is the only reason you called me here, I might as well leave."

"Now wait just a minute-" the Duke squeaked indignantly, but a growl from Sven stopped him, "Fine, you may leave. But you and I both know that eventually you will have to sell if your business does not pick up."

Kristoff left the building as fast as he could, knowing if he stayed any longer he would punch a hole in either the wall, or the Duke's over-sized, bespectacled nose. _Now I know why people call him the Duke of Weasel Town_, Kristoff thought to himself as he made his way to the docks.

Kristoff quickly untied _The Ice Harvester_ and sailed out of the fjord, as sailing had always helped clear his head in the past. As Arendelle became a speck in the distance, Sven let out a yelp, and began angrily barking at something in the water. Kristoff locked the wheel in place and grabbed a harpoon, and went to where Sven was looking.

"No! Don't shoot!" came a familiar shout and suddenly, a familiar beautiful strawberry blond mermaid came into view, as well as a familiar dolphin, and a _very much unfamiliar_ massive shark.

"Marshmallow, this is the human Kristoff I told you about," said Anna gesturing at the shocked fisherman, "Kristoff, this is Marshmallow, don't worry, he's vegetarian."

"Uh huh," said Kristoff, his voice a slightly higher pitch, his Weselton troubles temporarily forgotten.

"Hey Kristoff," said Anna, looking at him with concern, "are you okay? Well I mean of course you're not _okay_ okay, I just introduced you to one of the last behemoth Great White Sharks, and he's still an adolescent. What I mean is you looked a little not okay _before_ Sven spotted Marshmallow, so… yeah. Are you okay?"

Kristoff sighed and slowly shook his head, "The Duke of Weasel Town is trying to force me to sell my fishing business to him."

"What?" gasped Anna, "but you said you would never sell, so how could he force you?"

"Everyone buys fish from the Weselton Fishing Company, because their prices are cheaper than mine, and I have had really bad years, fishing wise for a while, and have barely been able to make ends meet. If I don't make enough money selling fish to what customers I _do_ have, I won't be able to pay to keep my business." Kristoff lamented to her, and sighed heavily.

"Actually," Anna began slowly, "about that; I might have a way to help you."

Kristoff looked at her incredulously, "really? What are you, some kind of fish herder?"

"No… but I know other Mer who are." She said confidently

"Wait, so fish herding is a thing?" Kristoff asked surprised, he had thought she had been joking about that.

"Psh, of course it is," she waved off casually, and then turned serious, "listen, the fish herders still remember the old treaties between the humans and Mer. If you do a special kind of ritual, they'll let you fish in their waters without sinking your boat… except in White Cap bay though. _Don't ever go there_, but anywhere else is fine; you just have to do exactly what I tell you, okay?"

Kristoff nodded, "I'm out of options, and considering where you live, that makes you the expert here."

"Okay," Anna began, "this is what you need to do…"

* * *

The water lapped against the side of his boat as Kristoff steered _The Ice Harvester_ into the small area of water over the abyss. The water was always choppy here, and the duke's men rarely sailed here, as the Mer always sank any boat that trespassed here. _Speaking of which,_ Kristoff remembered, he quickly ran through the checklist of things for the ritual, that Anna had made him memorize. _Okay, offering… Check, Special net that won't destroy the ocean floor… check, symbol of Poseidon carved on the starboard side of the boat _Kristoff leaned over the side and looked at the carving that Anna had made on the side, _check,_ he smiled, and began preparing to cast out his net. As he worked, he heard the occasional splashes, and though he couldn't see anything, he knew it was the Mer in the area looking at his boat to see if he was a threat. He heard yet another splash, this time followed by a small thump. He peered over his shoulder to see the seaweed basket that Anna had brought him to put his offering in was empty.

"Guess they liked the ice," Kristoff muttered, and finished tying off the net, before throwing it into the ocean. He turned away from the ocean and began to check his tank, as well as the barrels that Anna had insisted he get out from the lower deck of his boat. He wasn't sure why; he only used the barrels for when he had so many fish he ran out of places to put them, and he hadn't had a day like that… in a long time. Nevertheless, Kristoff checked to make sure the rings on the barrels were secure, and that the barrels themselves were secured to the boat.

Suddenly the boat lurched and Sven let out a series of booming barks. Kristoff ran to the net, to see the ropes keeping it attached straining against the pulleys, "Help Sven!" He cried as another tremor rocked the boat. The hound rushed to Kristoff's side, and with his reindeer like strength, helped him haul up the net into the tank.

Kristoff gasped, the small tank was nearly overflowing with fish of all kinds: big fish, small fish, colorful fish, which were probably worth a great deal to the gourmet chefs he had never been able to sell to before. He quickly went to work, emptying his net and sorting the fish into the crates. He cast out his net again, and minutes later, another jerking motion alerted him of the net's status of being filled again.

Kristoff yelled for Sven and the both of them hauled the once more teeming net into the tank where, once more, Kristoff set to emptying the net sorting the fish inside of the crates. The process repeated several more times, until all of his crates and barrels were filled to the brim. He had never had this much of a catch before. With the amount that he had caught that day, he would be able to pay off several debts he had worked up from previous years when he hadn't caught enough to get by. Kristoff laughed with glee and in his happiness, leaned forward and planted a kiss on Sven's nose, which the hound happily returned.

_I owe Anna big time for this_, Kristoff thought, his mind still reeling, _I really need to think of some way to thank her._

Kristoff sailed back towards Arendelle, a goofy grin on his face when he heard the sound of splashing, and the telltale _thunk_ of Anna hoisting herself onto the side of his boat, so she could see over the side.

"So," She said with her trademark smile, "aside from not getting sunk by angry merfolk, how'd it go?"

"Are you kidding?" Kristoff laughed happily, still giddy from the day's events, "it was the best haul I've had in years! I think I got enough to pay off most of my debts, and even have some left over! I've never had a day this good! I could _kiss_ you!"

Anna's jaw dropped slightly, as Kristoff realized exactly what he had said, "I could, I mean I'd like to, I'd… may I, we me. I mean, may we… wait what?" he spluttered, his face growing hot in embarrassment.

He would have continued stammering like that if Anna hadn't leaned forward and kissed him gently on the cheek.

She smiled, almost shyly, and spoke two words; "we may."

Kristoff felt as though he could fly, and went on his knees and pressed his lips to Anna's. The feeling of elation he had felt at having all his crates and barrels filled was nothing compared to what he felt now. Her lips were soft and warm, and their warmth seemed to spread through him, like a great glow. His lips tingled, and every nerve in his brain was screaming with euphoria as she responded to his lips. It became slightly desperate the longer it continued and it was only his need for air that made him break apart from her. His lips spread into a grin, even as his pants for air matched hers. A sudden clicking noise came from the water, revealing Olaf nudging Anna's fins.

"I… need to go," she said regretfully, and looked at him her eyes filled with sadness, "mama's wondering where I am, and last time she didn't find me in a 'timely manner' she sent the guards after me."

Kristoff nodded, "see you 'round, feisty pants."

"Later Kristoff," she whispered, and once more disappeared beneath the waves.

Kristoff smiled, and went back to his ship's wheel, with two thoughts running through his mind, one; he was head over heels in love with a mermaid, and two; _this was_ _best day of my life._

* * *

**First things first; I own Nothing!**

**Also, shout out to Dencin, who made the first ever fan art for any of my fics. You are an amazing artist, madam! Take some virtual triple chocolate chip cookies!**

**I also apologize for taking this long, procrastination, and lousy internet is a terrible mix. Thank you all for your patience.**

**-BatteriezNotIncluded**


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: I own nothing!**

**Oh, by the way, Kristoff and Elsa are eighteen in this and Anna is fifteen. Sorry for not clarifying that sooner.**

* * *

**Part Two: The Princess**

The Worst Day Ever

Elsa was sitting next to her father in yet another council meeting. Her back was straight, her eyes clear and focused, she was the picture of sophisticated grace, and… she was bored out of her skull. She did not really understand why her father had insisted she be present for this meeting; the only thing happening was the council was complaining about taxes and the fact that the Mer kept sinking their ships whenever they tried to leave port.

The long ebony table glinted in the waning light as night began to settle over the kingdom of Arendelle. Her father, King Adgar seemed to realize the time and cleared his throat; "It seems as though we are not going to make a decision today on this matter, so I move to move on to the final issue on today's agenda."

The council members nodded and Admiral Hans Westergard cleared his throat, "your majesty, if I may?" he asked pleasantly, and her father nodded.

"The she-devils have begun to sink the fishing boats belonging to the Weselton Fishing Company, and it is severely affecting their business. Is it possible for the crown to authorize the Company's purchase of mercenary contracts, as not to spread our navy too thin, what with the War on the Mer?"

The council members nodded in agreement, and her father considered his words, before nodding as well, "I will be sure to inform the Duke that he has my permission to do so. Now, if I may finally move to the final piece of business for today; my daughter."

Elsa, suddenly pulled from her stupor, felt a sense of unease begin to pool in her stomach. _Papa never speaks about me to the council, unless it is something to do with my being a Princess,_ Elsa thought to herself as her unease grew, _is this why he wanted me present for this meeting?_

"As you all know," her father began, "Crown Princess Elsa has recently reached her eighteenth year, and will come of age in three years time. With hostilities rising thanks to the she-devils, our kingdom would have long since been much worse than it has, if not for the bold actions and sound judgments of our own Admiral." Her father smiled at Admiral Hans and the nodded his head in thanks, his face the picture of humble acceptance of the praise. "It is with this in mind," the king continued, "that to both reward my Admiral's unwavering support, and to strengthen this kingdom further in light of the growing threat of the Mer: I would like to announce to all of you the long-term betrothal of the crown princess to Admiral Hans Westergard. The two of them shall be wed after the Princess comes of age."

It took all of Elsa's self-control not to lose it. As it was, her mounting horror was only intensified by the thunderous applause of the Councilmen, pledging their support to the King's decision, and congratulating the Admiral. Her father glanced at her and she could see his smile falter at her look of alarm. The King quickly ended the meeting and gestured at Elsa to follow him to her room. When they arrived, the moment her father closed the door, the restraint she had had vanished.

"You betrothed me to _Admiral_ _Westergard?"_ she asked incredulously, "and you did not think to ask or even inform me about it until after it had happened? Papa, you offered me to him like some sort of prize, when I am eighteen years old, as you mentioned in the meeting, and am perfectly capable of making these kinds of decisions!"

"Elsa," her father said placidly, "the gloves."

Elsa paused and looked down at her gloved hands. They were covered in frost, and even more ice was rapidly making its way across the floor and up the walls. _Conceal, _Elsa told herself firmly, _conceal it, don't feel it, don't let it show, do NOT let it show!_ The ice slowed to a stop, but did not disappear, not that either of them expected it to; it never did.

Elsa took a shuddering breath, before turning back to her father, her eyes narrowed, as she silently demanded an explanation. Her father sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Elsa," he began slowly, "Hans is a good man. He has served our family and myself for several years. Though he is young, he has shown that he has a good head on his shoulders, what with his various victories against the she-devils, and his charisma is well known throughout his ranks. He is well deserving of his position, and well liked. He will take care of Arendelle, Elsa, and he will take care of you. This match will benefit everyone in Arendelle, Elsa, including you. In time you will learn to love him, I'm sure, and remember you will have three years to do so. Elsa, please, this is both for your own good and for the good of Arendelle, and the selfishness of choosing our own partner is a luxury that we cannot have, not with the war. Please Elsa; try to make the best of it." He smiled kindly at her, and Elsa clenched her fists, and turned away from him.

She did not remember much about her mother, but she did know that her father had been different when she had been alive. He had cared about Elsa, and her opinions, he had even admired her ability to conjure ice and snow. Now however, what with the Mer's hostilities growing bolder by the day, he had thrown all of his caring into ending the she-demons once and for all, and when Elsa's powers had become too much for her, all he had given her were her gloves and he mantra, both of which were beginning to lose their effectiveness. She knew that her marriage would be beneficial, just like he had said, but she also knew that she did not love the Admiral; moreover, she did not even _like_ him, as he gave off an aura of malevolence whenever he smiled at her, though she never saw any hostility in his face when he did so. She was just being paranoid and she knew it, and it was with this thought that she put on a mask of calmness and faced her father.

"I can indeed see where a marriage between myself and the Admiral would be beneficial to all of Arendelle," Elsa admitted in a neutral tone, and her father smiled, looking relieved.

"I will have preparations made at once," he said with an air of finality, "I will let you know when the dates have been finalized." With that, he left the room.

The door had barely clicked shut when she immediately turned to her window, and opened it and climbed out onto the window washer's platform and lowered herself down, as she had done several times before. The moment her feet touched the ground, she sprinted through the gardens, through the hole in the wall, and raced towards the docks. She turned and began to head toward the beaches. When sand then became rocks, treacherously arranged so that few dared climb them, she continued until finally Elsa arrived at a secluded cave and quickly went inside.

Elsa practically tore off her gloves, and shoved them in the pocket of her coat. Then she let out a yell and thrust her hand out, her outstretched fingers pointing to the cave's dark tunnel, and an explosion of glowing crystalline blue ice and frost shot into the tunnel with a loud crack. Even as the blast formed, jagged icicles began to sprout from any surface that her power could find. She roared again, throwing her other hand outward, and a secondary blast, this time as a glowing blue streak of light, shot out from her fingertips and the light of her magic lit up the inside of the tunnel like an explosion of lightning, but with frost and rime in its wake.

As the ice continued to form, Elsa ran out of breath, and she felt her scream peter out, her anger with it. For a moment, she stared numbly at the cave that had held several of her ice-enhanced temper tantrums. She had discovered it when she had been eight, when her father had first closed the gates due to her growing abilities. She hadn't seen why her magic had been bad at that age, and so she had snuck out trying to find a place use it in secret, hoping to one-day control it, until it had become clear that her curse could not be controlled. She had quickly learned that whenever her powers and emotions _really_ got out of hand she would freeze the hallways as well as her room. Therefore, she had taken to coming here so she could vent both her emotions and her powers, without her father knowing she was without gloves, and without having to worry about Gerda, or one of the other servants slipping on her ice in the hallway outside her room.

The cave itself was nothing special, aside from its nearly impossible to reach location; the cave itself was a large tunnel, leading to a large open room at the end of it. The water of the ocean ran through the cave in a large, deep stream that led into the room, where it stayed as a massive tide pool that filled nearly the entire room, save for a strip of rock along the edge that stretched to the cave's mouth acting as a pathway.

The numbness finally faded, leaving Elsa completely drained, feeling nothing except the crushing weight of both her powers, and her soon to be marriage with a man she did not even remotely like. Of course, it wasn't as if she had ever made her dislike for the admiral known; doing so would have shamed her father, especially since feelings of distrust were unwarranted, as all the man had ever done was lead the fight against those ocean dwelling creatures that hated her kingdom so, and successfully at that. She had no leg to stand on to deny this marriage, and she knew it. So she did the only thing she could do; curl up and cry. _Why does my life have to be so miserable,_ she thought plaintively, _though it's not as if it could get any worse._

As her sobs wracked her body, she barely noticed the snow that was beginning to fall around her, nor did she notice the ice that was slowly spreading in the direction _outside_ of the cave. In fact Elsa didn't notice anything, until she heard a soft gasp behind her from the mouth of the cave. Elsa whipped around, as fear gripped her, and grew as that fear was confirmed; floating in the mouth of the cave, with an awestruck look on her face, was a fifteen year old looking girl with dark strawberry blond hair done in twin plaits, and strange blue-green eyes. The girl looked at Elsa and a spark of understanding flashed in her eyes, "it's you," the girl whispered softly, rising from the water so that her seashell bra was visible, "_you're_ doing the magic." And with that, Elsa panicked.

* * *

**I cannot believe how uninspired I am right now, seriously, it's ridiculous! Nevertheless, I managed to get this done to my satisfaction, and hopefully to all of yours as well. **

**On a side note, what's with all the copy cats? Ha ha, just kidding; I'm actually surprised that there weren't more Kristanna mermaid fics out there when first I started this.**

**Anyway, I'll try to see if I can find where my inspiration/muse went (if anyone has any ideas I would very much appreciate it) :-)**

**Peace out,**

**-BNI**

**PS: reveiwreviewreviewreview (please)**


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: I own nothing, all rights belong to Disney!**

**Also: I found a picture of Marshmallow! It should be the new cover pic. Enjoy!**

* * *

Hard Water and Solid Raindrops

Anna swam upward and smiled as her face broke the surface of the water. The dark sky was filled with stars, as she now knew they were called (thanks to Kristoff), and they and the moon glowed softly, making the ocean glitter, and barely revealing the cliffs that surrounded the Arendelle coastline. Anna's smile widened as a soft splash informed her of Olaf breaking the surface behind her. He chittered softly, and nuzzled Anna's arm, and she stroked his nose. There was another, bigger splash, which alerted her that Marshmallow had arrived as well, and she heard the shark rumble in appreciation of the sight before him.

"Yeah," Anna sighed happily, "it is pretty, but it's about to get better."

Sure enough, after a few moments, the northern lights seemed to explode from the sky, causing the sea to glitter in all of its wondrous colors. A feeling of contentment filled Anna, as she watched to glow, weave and ebb, reminding her of the ocean's tides. She stayed there with her two friends for a while, before realizing her mother, or one of the servants were bound to notice her disappearance. Anna sighed and turned to dive back in the ocean, when a flash of bluish white coming from the direction of the cliffs caught her attention. Curiosity piqued, Anna began to swim toward where she had spotted the mysterious light. After a while, Anna came to an old cave that seemed to be imbedded in the cliff's sheer wall. It took her a moment, but she realized that it was one of the old mating grounds the Mer had had in Arendelle; one of the few they had had in this kingdom, and had eventually needed to be abandoned due to its proximity to the humans.

Anna swam closer and eventually came to the entrance of the old semi-underwater cave, before realizing that she couldn't continue. Anna frowned looked at the strange cold, clear substance (a kind of rock perhaps?) before her, though being a mermaid the cold didn't really bother her. She tentatively touched it; it was hard, very hard and very slippery. She tilted her head and slowly broke off a piece of the strange clear-ish cold substance, and tentatively sniffed and then tasted it. Anna yanked it out of her mouth and looked at it in surprise. It wasn't a rock; it was _water_, somehow _hardened_ water. Anna's confusion only mounted when a speck of something white hit her nose. She blinked and looked at it, it was strange too, and slowly she sniffed it. Just like the solid water, this held no scent as well, and curiously enough, when she tasted it, she found that it was _water_ too. _Hard water and solid rain? I'll need to ask Kristoff about this._ She thought to herself, and blinked again, when another solid raindrop hit her in the face… and then another. Anna tentatively looked up and peered into the cave; the white-water-drop-things were coming from inside the cave, and… Anna let out a small gasp, and the figure she had just noticed, suddenly sprang up and stared at Anna.

The human female, Anna now realized, was extremely pale, and had hair so pale it was almost white but had a strange gold sheen to it, a color Anna had never seen before, and her eyes were a strange pale blue, the same pale blue as the hardened pointy water deeper in the cave, points that seemed to be getting longer, as if by magic. Anna blinked suddenly she saw that both the hard water and the strange white drops seemed to be originating from…

"It's you," she breathed to the female, shock and amazement filling Anna, "_you're_ doing the magic."

The pale human's eyes widened, a look of terror ran clear across her face, and she stumbled back and held her hands in front of her.

"N-no," the female human said in strange tone that sounded both authoritative and frightened, "s-stay away, please."

Anna blinked and realized the girl was scared of something; she looked around to see Olaf and Marshmallow looking expectantly at her, but out of sight of the female. Anna swallowed and decided just to start speaking.

"Uh… hi?" Anna said waving tentatively, "I like your magic, it's really beautiful."

The human blinked, looking surprised, "you're not afraid?" she asked tentatively

Anna tilted her head in confusion, "why would I be; all your doing is making the water hard." Anna rapped her knuckles on the hard surface, and looked back at the female, "see? Oh and you seem to be making it rain white water…? Or something, but it doesn't seem to be hurting anything, and it's actually really amazing to watch and-"

"Snow," The human said shyly, "the white rain as you called it; it is actually called snow. And the 'hard water' as you put it is ice."

"Oooh," Anna breathed in realization, and then remembered something important, "oh, I'm sorry, you must think I'm rude or something! Anyways, I'm Anna." She smiled, and did a little wave to show the human she didn't mean any harm.

The human blinked and curled her arms around her chest, "Elsa," she said slowly, "my name is Elsa."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Elsa," Anna smiled and Elsa smiled back tentatively, before suddenly looking afraid.

"Anna," said Elsa, her voice sounding slightly desperate, "please do not tell anyone about this, I'm technically not supposed to show my powers to anyone and-"

"Oh," said Anna breezily, "that's okay. I'm technically not supposed to be out here either, so I wasn't going to tell anyone anyway."

"Alright," Elsa replied softly, though she sounded relieved, then her brows furrowed in confusion, "What are you doing out so late? The tide looks to be coming in, and it is rather late for a swim. Are you one of the dockworkers?"

_Dockworker? Why would she…_ then Anna realized something, _she can't see my tail, she thinks I'm a human like her._ Anna smiled in slight relief, and shook her head, "no I'm actually a-"

She stopped herself. Not all humans were as understanding as Kristoff had been; her people hadn't been hiding from humans without good reason. She herself would be dead if Kristoff hadn't been nice enough to let her go, and she knew not all humans would have shown such kindness. If this human wasn't one of the few who didn't hate the Mer… _I can't take that chance,_ Anna realized, and then looked up to see the woman still waiting for an answer, "I um, I'm an angler." She covered quickly, "I work with a fisherman named Kristoff aboard his ship, _The Ice Harvester." _

Elsa nodded, accepting this answer, then frowned again, "you've never seen snow or ice before."

"Not really, no." Anna shifted uncomfortably, "my mama's really protective over me, when I was younger I wasn't allowed to go outside or see the s-" Anna barely stopped herself from saying _surface_, and quickly covered, "see the sites outside of our dwelling."

Elsa's lips and eyebrows quirked upward, "that actually sounds pretty familiar. Papa never let me out of his sight either. I know he means well, with my curse and all…"

"Why do you call it a curse?" Anna asked curiously, "this ice and snow you make is the most beautiful stuff I've ever seen. I don't see how anything this pretty could come from a _curse_, a gift maybe, but not a curse."

"Thank you," Elsa said softly, "you're the first person I've met who wasn't afraid of me, because of what I can do. Everyone else is scared I would hurt them."

"Just because someone _could_ do something doesn't mean they would," Anna pointed out, "and from what I'm seeing, you wouldn't hurt anyone. Oh, speaking of which, can you make anything else besides snow, ice, and pointy ice with your magic?"

Elsa blinked and then glanced behind her, "oh, you mean the icicles?" she frowned and uncurled her hands to look at them, "I don't really know, I've never tried; I'm not allowed to use them until I can control my magic."

"Maybe that's why you can't control them?" Anna asked looking up at Elsa, "_Because_ you don't use them. Maybe it's like swimming or walking; yeah, you trip and fall a few times, and maybe even sink, but you won't get any better if you don't try to."

Elsa looked at Anna for a moment, "I never really thought of it that way." She admitted, and looked at her hands again.

"Mama always told me, if I was afraid of something, to learn as much as I could about it, and maybe I would find out that even though it _looks_ scary, it isn't actually very scary at all. Sooo, maybe if you figure out what you _can_ do with your magic, you'll be able to find out how to not do it when you don't want to?"

"Your mother sounds like a wise woman," said Elsa wistfully, then smiled at Anna, "and your logic does seem to be very good…" her voice trailed off. Then looked at Anna almost shyly, "would you help me? You're the only one who knows about my powers outside of my… well, my home."

"Of course," Anna spoke immediately, and then frowned, "but we should probably meet here, so I don't miss… fishing with Kristoff, and so no one else sees your magic."

Elsa nodded, and smiled gratefully, "that sounds like a plan to me. Thank you."

"See ya!" Anna smiled and waved, and swam off, careful to keep her tail out of sight.

* * *

**Sooo, this is awkward… I swear I didn't mean to wait so long before updating (especially with a cliffhanger, I swear i'm not usually this evil). Unfortunately, my spotty internet finally decided to kick the bucket, and my computer followed shortly after, so I basically lost **_**everything.**_** The good news it I saved earlier versions of everything as well as my outlines somewhere else so… I'm not starting from scratch! YAY (But I still have to piece together my stories again. BOO)! Again, sorry for the wait but I promise to try to make it up to all of you.**

**Peace out - :P**

**-BatteriezNotIncluded**


	8. Chapter 8

**All Rights go to their respective owners**

* * *

Whom the Cold Doesn't Bother

Elsa wasn't sure which was worse; waiting for night to fall so she could (maybe) see the girl from the night before and try out her powers, or having dinner with her father and "fiancé". As crown princess, it was her duty to pay attention to everyone at the table and not leave anyone ignored, which meant listening to her father speak about wedding plans, and the Admiral tell a gallant tale about a battle against a clan of mermaids (which she was certain was exaggerated to some extent). Needless to say, Elsa was tense, and the food wasn't making it any better.

As crown princess, it was also her duty not to be unladylike; which meant that she couldn't do what she really wanted to (which was let out a groan and bang her head on the table) So as usual, she bit her tongue and continued to listen to the two men on either side of her. Elsa was beginning to wonder if she should just skip meeting with the girl in the water and just simply go to bed, if anything to prevent the migraine she sensed would be coming from all of this damned multitasking. Immediately a vision of the red haired girl floating in the water, waiting vainly for hours for her to come came into her mind, as well as an intense wave of guilt. No, Elsa had made a promise to come, and exhausted or not, she would make her way to the cave and meet her there.

Now, her father and the Admiral were _both_ talking about the upcoming wedding. Elsa suppressed a sigh; she knew no matter _what_ her father told her, she doubted that she would ever love the admiral. The idea of marrying him made a flash of dread worm its way down to her stomach and coil uncomfortably. She suppressed a shudder, and continued to nod at the men at the table, when suddenly the Admiral made a comment that made her blood turn to ice.

"My only sorrow to marrying your daughter is that her mother is unable to witness it. If I may sire; what was she like? It seems almost inappropriate of me to wed Elsa without meeting her mother."

Oh gods, what had he done? Did the admiral even realize what hell he had unleashed upon the both of them? Her father never talked about her mother (she had tried numerous times), and when he did it was only things she already knew. Surely the admiral knew that her father wouldn't possibly answer the question–

"She was beautiful." Her father said wistfully, and Elsa had to physically restrain her jaw from dropping.

Her father sighed, his eyes misting before continuing, "Elsa looks remarkably like her; almost identical really, except for her hair, her mother's was brown. I met her on the on the shore, near a group of tide pools, she was swimming around them. We talked, and then we parted ways, until I returned and we continued to do so. Then one day, there was a massive storm; as though the ocean was furious about something. Several of the docks were damaged, and the whole kingdom had nearly been swallowed up. I went out to the beaches to assist the search for any survivors of those who lived on the coast, and I found her, lying on the sand. Poor woman was passed out, and when she came too, she was incredibly disoriented, could barely stand. Apparently she had been on a ship and the storm had capsized it. Anyways, I took her to our family's summer home, down near the mountains, away from the fjords and we continued where we left off. Eventually I gained the courage to propose, and to my delight, she accepted. Two years later, you were born Elsa, and you were quite the precocious one; always exploring and always searching for how things worked and why. Unfortunately, during our time together, the sea-devil's hostilities to the kingdom increased tenfold, and I was forced to take a more active role in fighting them. Then, sixteen years ago, the devils declared war on Arendelle; I had told Ingrid to sail to Corona during a peace talk with the Mer's king, Neptune, for her safety, as our marriage wasn't common knowledge. She still held fear of the ocean after the storm years before, but I convinced her to go. Two weeks later, I received word that King Neptune himself had sunk the ship with her on board, leaving no survivors."

Her father had tears in his eyes, much to Elsa's dismay; her father never cried, much less in front of anyone. Elsa frowned softly and thought back to her younger years. What her father said made sense; when she was younger, she did remember a different home, one much smaller and without servants, and she did remember a woman with chocolate brown hair and warm eyes. But there was something else she remembered that didn't quite make sense… No, it was probably nothing, besides; it was nearly time for her to meet up with Anna at the cave.

As if by fate, her father abruptly stood and announced the meal was over, and thanked the admiral for joining them, before going off to his study. Elsa quickly excused herself as well, and nearly bolted for her room. After ensuring the door was locked, she made her way out the window, through the hole, and toward the caves by the sea. It was dark when Elsa got there, and cold she supposed, though she had never really felt the cold at any time in her life (a rather handy side effect of having ice powers). After looking around for a moment, Elsa saw no glimpse of the girl, and so she sat down on the side of the cave, and watched the small, but deep stream that traveled the length of the cave and began to think.

After ten minutes Elsa began to grow concerned; what if something had happened, what if Anna had decided not to come, what if she had told someone of her powers and they were coming for her… As her thoughts continued to spiral, she risked another glance toward the mouth of the cave… only to find a very large, very white shark staring at her from several inches away from her face. Elsa let out a shriek and scrambled backwards in terror, when she heard a voice cry out;

"No, bad Marshmallow! No scaring Elsa!"

Elsa carefully peered behind the large head of the massive shark, and saw Anna, her two braids soaking wet, and giving the large shark a scowl. The shark slowly swam backwards and turned to face Anna.

_But I just wanted to say hello,_ the shark pouted. Elsa froze; the shark had just talked, or rather, she had looked at its' face and could see what it wanted to say.

Anna had apparently understood it too, for she shook her head at the behemoth before looking back at him sternly.

"I know you just wanted to say hi, but when you're as large as you are and you just appear behind someone _that _closely… you're going to scare them, I mean look what you made her do!"

Anna gestured at the cave, and Elsa realized that she had coated the walls with a rather thin coating of ice. The shark seemed to deflate a little and looked at Anna ashamedly _I'm sorry._

"You don't need to apologize to me Marshmallow; it was Elsa you nearly frightened the life out of." The younger girl pointed out, and the large shark turned to Elsa again.

_Sorry for scaring._ At least that's what Elsa "heard". Carefully, she took a deep breath and nodded.

"You're forgiven… Marshmallow, was it? But for future reference, you might want to be at least five feed away from someone and wait for them to acknowledge you before coming any closer." Elsa said somewhat shakily, still trying to settle her nerves after the shark had made his appearance.

_Okay._ The shark immediately backed away, and waited patiently for Anna to come forward.

"Yeah, sorry about him, he's really anxious to meet new people, but his social skills could use a _little_ work, and it was really nice of you to forgive him like that, thank you for being so understanding about it and… wait a minute, how did you know what he said?"

Elsa blinked and then shrugged, "I was actually about to ask you that. From what I can see, it just appears as though he has a very expressive face."

For a moment, it looked like Anna was lost in thought, her eyebrows knit together, and her lips in a slight frown. After a moment of this deep thinking, Anna shook herself before shrugging, "I guess so? I mean I 'listen' to him the same way but I thought I was the only one besides…"

"Besides whom?" Elsa asked anxiously, wondering who else there could be who could understand sea creature facial expressions. But once again Anna shook her head.

"Sorry, it's nothing. So, does your magic often do that when something surprises you?" Asked Anna gesturing to the now icy cavern walls. Elsa grimaced and nodded.

"Unfortunately yes, it does. It's rather annoying to the… other people who live in my home, because whenever they pass my room, they have to check the floor to see if they're in any danger of slipping."

"Ooh," Anna winced slightly, "I can see where that could get annoying. So, aside from the snow and ice, can you make anything else?"

"I don't think so… I've never really tried, like I said before." Elsa admitted, and then gazed at Anna curiously, "How exactly do you intend to understand my powers?"

Anna shrugged, "no idea, I just figured I'd make it up as we go, ya know?"

Elsa cracked a smile, "At least you're honest about it."

Anna smiled back, "So where do you wanna start? Making more of the snow or the icy stuff?"

"Snow is definitely safer, but ice is easier for me to make." Elsa admitted, "Though that's probably because things seem to freeze whenever my powers are out of control."

Anna seemed to think about that, "Okay, how about you try to make ice in the pool at the end of the cave, and then we'll work from there."

Elsa nodded and carefully held her hands out and slowly began to twist them around one another. Magic surged through her fingertips, as an icy blue sphere began to grow between her hands with shiny snowflakes orbiting it. The magic pulsed brightly as it continued to grow and condense between her twirling hands. She took a shaky breath, and turned toward the back of the cave. Bracing herself, she thrust her palms outward, and the ball of magical energy surged forward with the speed of a lightning bolt and hit the back wall of the cave. The magic sphere exploded and ice shot outward in long jagged spikes as snow fell around the scene like ash around an explosion. Anna whistled in appreciation.

"That was _cool._ Well yeah, obviously it was cool because it 's snow and all, and snow is cold, but you have to admit that was awesome." Anna said with a grin slowly growing on her face.

Anna's face turned thoughtful, "that blast made both snow and ice though. Is that because you used both hands? I'm not saying that one hand does snow and the other does ice, although that would be a little unusual. Maybe if you use only one hand you'll only use one of them? Or maybe it wouldn't be as controlled when you don't use both hands. Could you do it with one hand? It doesn't have to be as big if you don't want."

Elsa nodded, and slowly and held her palm upward. Slowly, a snowflake began to form in her hand, slowly becoming bigger and more elaborate as it grew. Elsa eyed the snowflake uncertainly, and glanced at Anna nervously, who was watching the tessellation with amazement. Elsa couldn't help but smile at her expression, and felt herself relax a little. Elsa once again turned toward the back of the cave, and thrust her hand forward, and the snowflake, shot from her hand like a comet, shooting through the cave to the middle of the small, deep lake in the cave and exploded into a flurry of snow, scattering powder across the water's surface.

"Huh," Anna muttered, her eyebrows knitted together in a rather adorable look of concentration, "just snow that time. Maybe it's a one handed thing? Or maybe it's just a level of concentration thing… snow being easier to form quickly, but ice needing more focus… no wait, you said ice was easier to make than snow earlier, so _that _makes no sense." She tugged the end of one of her twin braid at that, eyebrows still angled toward each other.

"That seems to be an interesting theory, but my magic doesn't obey the laws of logic. Trust me, when I was younger I did everything I could to try to master my powers, but they just kept getting stronger and harder to control," Elsa told her sadly, and Anna looked up at this.

"No, no you're right," She nodded, face turning thoughtful, "Magic wouldn't obey the laws of science anyway, and that's what logic falls under. Hmm." Her voice trailed off, and Elsa looked at her surprised. Now that Anna mentioned it, it made perfect sense; magic and science were complete opposites, so it was natural that the laws of one wouldn't apply to the other.

"How do you know so much about magic?" Elsa asked curiously, and Anna jumped slightly.

"I, uh, I don't," the younger girl said hastily, "I-I'm just guessing… but it makes sense, r-right?"

Elsa arched an eyebrow, but didn't comment. _Well, I suppose I could pry,_ she thought, _but those who keep secrets shouldn't question others for fear of being questioned themselves, and I'm not sure if I'm ready to tell her I'm the crown princess of Arendelle._ Elsa suppressed a sigh, and turned her thoughts back to her powers.

"I suppose so," Elsa conceded, "so what do suggest?"

"Well… I'd say think of something that makes you happy, and try casting your magic at the same time," She said simply, "See if anything changes, or something."

Elsa took a deep breath and closed her eyes, and searched her memories for something, anything happy. Elsa suppressed a sigh; her life had been lessons, royal business, and her father burying himself in his work, her powers getting worse and worse over the years…

"Umm, I said 'happy memories' Elsa," said Anna sounding slightly nervous.

Elsa jumped slightly and looked down at her friend. Several icicles had spread out from her feet, forming a protective circle around Elsa, but that wasn't the worst part. The large jagged icicles pulsed with a deep magenta glow. Elsa curled her hands around her chest and tried to find a way to get away from Anna, but the ring of ice and the small rock pathway she was standing on kept her trapped. Elsa's eyes began to look around more frantically for a way to get away, but suddenly, she heard a splash.

Elsa looked around, and saw Anna trying to swim closer to her. Elsa's eyes widened as Anna grew closer to the ice.

"NO! Don't please, I can't control it." Elsa pleaded, backing away as quickly as she could over the ice that was manifesting beneath her palms.

"Elsa," Anna said quietly, her voice calm and soothing, "It's okay, I know you won't hurt me, just calm down and think of something happy. It doesn't have to be special, just something that you think of on a good day."

Elsa shook her head frantically, as she tried to force her feelings away. This had been a bad idea; her powers could and would never be controllable. Elsa trembled as she backed into the large opening of the cavern's pool. Elsa heard a splash and looked around frantically to see that Anna was gone, the water rippling where she had been. _She must have dived under to escape my ice, oh gods, I scared the one person who didn't think I was a monster!_ Elsa screamed at herself, _how am I supposed to be Queen one day when I can't even keep a friend for more than a day! Papa was right, I am a monster._

Elsa curled into a ball, and squeezed her eyes shut, concentrating on feeling of her hands gripping her shins and pulling her legs closer to her. _Conceal don't feel, conceal don't feel, conceal, don't FEEL!_ She repeated internally, trying desperately to empty her mind of emotion, knowing if she stopped panicking, the ice would stop. _Conceal don't feel, conceal don't fe–_

Her chant stopped as something echoed around the cave. Slowly, Elsa listened, and realized that it was singing. Someone was singing… but a different kind of singing than she was used to, for this song had no words, only sound. But that did not make it any less of a song; the more Elsa listened the more she could hear the notes echo with powerful emotions. Slowly Elsa found herself, stopping her internal chanting, and uncurling herself to try to hear the song. It was a sad song, long and low, echoing sorrow, loss, and… longing. She strained to hear it, unconsciously going toward the source of the music. She felt tears prickling her eyes, and her heart twist painfully, though she didn't know why. The haunting echo continued to reverberate around her, and she closed her eyes trying to think; now that she thought about it the voice reminded her of something, an echo of something long lost…

* * *

_Five year old Elsa took a deep breath of the pine scented trees, and looked again at the city of Arendelle far below them. The little girl smiled, when her name being called alerted her that she was wanted._

_ "Coming papa!" she cried as she ran as fast as she could toward the man seated on the picnic blanket, and ran straight into him, nearly knocking him over._

_ Her father laughed, his eyes alight with joy, and his face filled with happiness, "now now, snowflake, go easy on your old papa!"_

_ "You're not old papa," Elsa frowned, and a lighter more feminine laugh was heard._

_ "You should listen to our daughter, you know," her mother smiled, teal eyes gleaming, "your still an incredibly young, handsome gentleman."_

_ "Well, now I know I'm not as old as I feel," he laughed, "since you two lovely ladies have deemed it so."_

_ Her mother laughed, and rolled her eyes at him, "you always were a flirt."_

_ "Oh come now," her father pouted, and Elsa failed at suppressing a giggle, "I wasn't that bad."_

_ "Oh you were," she said seriously, but her eyes sparkled with mirth, "it was just very endearing watching you try to act like a debonair." _

_ Her father pouted, and Elsa couldn't stop herself from exploding into a fit of giggles at the ridiculous facial expression. Soon, all three of them were laughing, as they slowly packed up the picnic supplies. Elsa slowly stopped, and shuffled her hands together uncertainly. She took a deep breath and meekly cleared her throat and looked at her mother shyly._

_ "Mama," Elsa asked nervously, and when her mother turned to face her fully, she swallowed: "do you want to build a snowman?"_

_ Her mother's expression turned into a breathtaking smile, and she took Elsa's hand, "I would love to."_

_ Elsa threw her hands up, and icy energy flew into the sky, falling downwards and transforming into snowflakes. The two of them immediately began to roll the snow into balls, and the two became three. Eventually, the three large balls of snow were stacked together, and the coal, carrot, and twigs in place to make what Elsa saw as the perfect snowman. Her mother sighed contentedly and knelt down and kissed Elsa's forehead._

_ "Elsa, you are a beautiful person, with equally beautiful powers. Don't ever forget, and never let anyone tell you otherwise, do you understand, __snø engel?"_

_ Elsa nodded, smiling as she watched the last of her snow fall around their snowman, smiles etched on their faces…_

* * *

Elsa sniffed, and frowned, unsure why her vision had gone blurry. She reached up and rubbed her eyes… they were wet. Elsa frowned, before she realized that for the first time in forever, she was _crying._ She quickly swiped away the traitorous drops before she felt her knee catch on a rock…_ wait…I'm moving, how am I moving? Wait, I'm crawling! How could I crawl without realizing it?_ Elsa wondered suddenly in shock, as she forced herself to stop moving… and just in time she realized, as she was centimeters from going over the edge of the small rock ledge keeping her from dropping into the water's edge. Elsa sat stock still, and closed her eyes and simply listened.

The haunting voice was still singing, though it was drawing to a close. Calm, and haunting, the voice continued to sing without words and Elsa felt her tears once again fall against her will. The last note of the sorrowful song rang out, but with a hopeful twinge, and Elsa felt her lips twitch into a smile softly. As princess of Arendelle, she had been put before several tutors, some of them for singing. Elsa had heard every one of them sing, but none of them compared to what she just heard. Elsa opened her eyes and just sat their happily, turning to ask Anna if she had heard the singing as well…

Anna wasn't there. Elsa frowned, and suddenly remembered that Anna had dove underneath the water when her ice had started spreading uncontrollably. Quickly she began to look around for her friend, but found no sign of the redhead. She quickly gave the cave another once over and quickly realized that it wasn't her imagination; Anna was truly nowhere to be found.

"Anna?" She called tentatively, hoping that she was just somewhere just out of Elsa's line of sight.

Nothing. Elsa immediately felt her fear slowly returning. She slowly tried again, trying to keep herself from jumping to conclusions.

"Anna," She called louder, and when there was still no answer, she immediately felt the ice begin to spread out from under her feet.

"Anna!" she shouted, now fearing the worst, as she looked around frantically, when suddenly there was another splash, and Anna's head popped out from under the water a few feet from away from her.

"Nice, the ice is mostly gone," Anna grinned, then her smile faltered when she saw Elsa's expression, "Did… I do something wrong?"

"What were you thinking?!" Elsa exploded, staring at Anna incredulously, "I get that you like being in the water, but people have _died_ for being under water for _shorter_ amounts of time!"

"I–" Anna blinked in surprise, as if the thought hadn't occurred to her, "oh…"

A look of understanding suddenly appeared on her face, and Anna winced, "I'm so sorry, I swear I didn't mean to worry you! I was trying to find another way over to you, because the ice was blocking me, I'm usually under water for longer amounts of time and I didn't even think about it! I'm sorry."

Elsa stared at her friend's crestfallen face, and sighed, "Just… don't scare me like that again. I thought you had drowned."

For a moment it sounded as if Anna had scoffed and muttered something along the lines of "like that could ever happen", but when she turned back, her friend was still looking surprised. Elsa shook herself, and sighed. She was tired from the emotional exertion and from being scared to death that Anna had nearly died because of her. She sat back down, and slumped against the rocks, trying to reign in her thoughts.

"Hey," Anna said softly, taking Elsa's hand, "I really am sorry. I honestly didn't mean to scare you. Especially since you were doing so well, I mean look! All the ice is nearly gone."

Elsa blinked and looked around, and suddenly realized that Anna was right; nearly all the ice she had made was melted, and the ice that she had made when Anna had been submerged was slowly creeping back.

"It's thawing," Elsa muttered in disbelief, watching in shock as the last of the ice vanished, then Elsa burst out laughing. "It's thawing!"

Anna grinned, and gave her hand a squeeze before letting go, "I knew you could do it."

"I-I just… never thought it would ever happen," Elsa breathed, still staring at where the ice had been, not sure she was still dreaming.

Suddenly, there was a chittering noise, and Anna's face paled. Elsa frowned, as her mind suddenly translated the noises as, _your mom's sent people looking for you. They heard you._

"I-I'm so sorry Elsa," Anna said looking sadly at Elsa, "I need to go, it seems mama's sent people to look for me, and it's not like I can just let them find us huh."

Elsa nodded in understanding, "It's alright. It's just… I will see you again right?"

Anna grinned, "count on it!" was the girl's firm but cheerful reply, as she turned around and swam out of the cave faster than Elsa thought was possible. It wasn't until Elsa had gotten back to her room in the castle when she realized that she hadn't asked Anna about the mysterious singing she had heard. Elsa shrugged, and prepared to sleep when–

"Your highness!" The door banged open, and Elsa nearly froze her bed in surprise.

"Is there a reason that you didn't knock?" Asked Elsa curtly, knowing that her response was probably uncalled for, but she was tired from both her magic practice and sneaking to and from the palace.

"I apologize, your highness," the guard apologized hastily, "it's just that your father sent word to find you immediately and ensure your safety, as well as request your presence in the war room."

"What?" Elsa stared shocked at the man, her eyes narrowing, "why?"

"One of the guards returned from the docks, your highness with news on the Mer."

Elsa swallowed and her face grew pale, "What news?"

"There have been reports of an attack south east of the docks; the guards there say they heard… a siren."

* * *

***Cough* so, I'm not dead...**

**Sorry about the wait, I have no excuse for that. Hopefully the next chapter won't take _that_ long.**

**Hope you all had a great holiday,**

**...yeah, sorry again for taking so long. I'll try to have the next chapter out soon to make up for it.**

**-BatteriezNotIncluded**

**PS. Oh and two things:1) snø engel=snow angel in Norwegian  
2)The song that Elsa hears in the cave is the Bad Wolf Theme from Dr. Who (Or at least that's what I envisioned it being when I wrote it)**


	9. Chapter 9

**I do not own anything. All rights go to respective owners.**

* * *

Legends and Lessons

Anna swam as fast as she could, her eyes narrowed in concentration as she arced her tail using her momentum to swing out of the riptide, and rocket toward the capital city. Her eyes widened as she took in the scene; guards were everywhere, various Mer from every district were floating in a line as several lieutenants took census of everyone in the kingdom. _Uh oh,_ Anna grimaced, suddenly _very_ worried, _mama doesn't do this unless there's been an attack._

Anna quickly put on another burst of speed as she swam full tilt through one of the palace windows near her room, before quickly turning the corner, and nearly careening with Kai.

"Princess," the merman gasped, looking instantly relieved, "your mother was about to call the guardsmen to find you."

Anna immediately gulped, she was in _big_ trouble, "w-what? What happened? Why am I in trouble exactly?"

Kai shook his head, "you're not in trouble, I'm afraid we've had a major breach in security, and your mother was worried."

Anna's gut plummeted, "a security breach," she choked out, "how bad?"

"A siren song was heard in the human kingdom, the human king has put his entire kingdom on high alert." Kai explained, and Anna nearly shrieked.

That was impossible. It was _impossible!_ The caves were in a very secluded part of the cliffs, and she _knew_ she hadn't been singing that loudly for that very reason. And yet… the _king_ had heard her?! _I must not have managed my volume as well as I thought,_ Anna thought slowly, though she knew she was lying to herself; there was _no way_ that she had been that loud.

"Where's my mother?" Anna asked finally, bracing herself. She knew she was in for it, if any of the priests had tracked the sound, they would know it was her singing.

"In the war room, with the representative of the Priests of Poseidon," Kai answered simply, and Anna's gut plummeted farther.

Anna gave the butler a nod, and swam to the war room as quickly as she could. This was _bad._ If the priests were present, then that meant the entire Mer existence was threatened, or something really close. Fear coiled in her stomach as she rushed to the war room. _How? How had they heard me?_ Anna thought to herself desperately, _I was barely whispering; I was only loud enough for Elsa to hear me… how the heck did the king hear me when he was over a mile away?_ Anna paused at the door to the war room, and gulped. _I'm so dead,_ she thought helplessly, before opening the door, and slowly swimming in.

The war room was in chaos; every representative of the clans were in their seats above the center of the room, with her mother, and the Priest sitting on the far end. By the looks of it, no one had managed to deduce that it had been her that had been singing. _Thank Poseidon for that,_ Anna thought gratefully, before trying to surreptitiously swim to her seat next to her mother. Anna thanked her lucky stars that everyone was too busy arguing with themselves to notice her sneaking to her seat… well almost everyone.

"Where in Poseidon's name have you been?" Her mother hissed at her, and Anna shrank slightly.

"Shipwreck abyss," Anna lied, sounding bashful, "But I came back as fast as I could when I heard the alarm. Kai said something about a siren singing to the humans. I don't get it mama… why would whoever it was just… I don't know, sing quieter instead of loud enough for the king to hear."

Her mother sighed, "Magic doesn't work that way, it's not about volume; it's about _power._ Whoever it was singing, has exceptionally powerful magic, meaning even if this person was whispering as quietly as possible, their voice still would have carried all the way to the palace. We're lucky whoever it was _was_ whispering, otherwise the entire human kingdom would be even more trouble."

Anna's jaw dropped, "Wait… what? I know that the siren's song can magically send people into a trance, but I didn't know it could extend father than what people could hear."

"Anna," her mother began gently, "how do you think the ships from the Mediterranean heard the sirens, when the rocks they resided on were miles away? The magic in their voices carried their song through the air so the men could hear it. Our ancestors song caused many human to drown themselves, if whoever it was had been singing any louder, we could very possibly have a disaster on our hands."

Anna swallowed; she had _not_ meant to do that. Then she frowned, as her mother continued.

"Worst of all, whoever it was, was vocalizing," her mother shook her head, "Words and lyrics at the very least curb the magic so that it's not as dangerous, but vocalizing… that's releasing pure magic, pure _emotion_… it's a miracle no one died."

She _really _hadn't meant to do that. When Kristoff had taught her that some people simply sang notes rather than words Anna had been fascinated, thinking that it was something purely human… she hadn't _once_ thought that the Mer didn't do it for other reasons. So far, no one seemed to suspect her, but that didn't make things better.

"If we're going to do something we have to act now!" came the voice of a Southern Isles Clansman staring at her mother, "The human king will think this is an act of war, by Poseidon's trident, the silly humans think we actually _are _at war with him… and losing! Perhaps it is time to show them how deluded they are in thinking such!"

Several cries of agreement were heard throughout the room, and her mother slammed the butt of her trident into the ground, "SILENCE!"

There was silence… instantly.

"If we were to declare war on the humans we would slaughter them! All of them! Our magic does not discriminate who it kills; their men, women, and children would perish, and then we would truly be the monsters they seem to believe we are! Will we truly stoop to their level and prove them right just because of the actions of one of us? We are hundreds of years old; I would think our kind would be wiser than that." Her mother stated pointedly, and looked at all of the surrounding faces.

Many of the Merfolk in the room lowered their eyes in shame, while others glowered at her mother angry that they were not getting their way.

"With all due respect, Your Majesty," the Southern clansmen began again, "The humans may live short lives, but as a species, their memories are more selective than most. Their children will continue to fight us, and eventually we will be forced to fight back. Perhaps, with all the innovations across the seas, it would be wise to stop any who hate and appose us from gaining such weapons before there comes a time when their hatred of us becomes more than a nuisance."

"If I may," Anna began slowly raising her voice so the representative could hear, "that sounds a little like genocide to me."

Her mother eyed her, a proud gleam in her eye, "My daughter is correct; you suggest killing an entire civilization for something they might do in the future. That is not the way we act, we are better than this."

"Better than this or not," the Priest of Poseidon spoke up, "There will eventually come a time when the humans will attempt to destroy us. The question stands: will we wait until it becomes a possibility or will we launch a pre-emptive strike to ensure our own future?"

Her mother sighed, "No matter what the humans may invent, our magic will always be more powerful than their technology. Humans have lost the ability to use the art of magic; therefore, they are powerless to stop it. As such, even if they did attempt to destroy us, humans have nether the patience, the cunning, nor the strength to stand against our full might should we choose to declare war upon them. We know that if we fight, they will die, but we cannot punish the many for the actions of a few."

A few nodded at the Queen's statement. The southern Isles representative grumbled slightly, but remained silent this time. The Priest of Poseidon suddenly rose and began to speak, making everyone in the gathering hall go silent.

"Be that as it may, Your Majesty, we still need to locate the unruly citizen who attempted to use their gift within the vicinity of the humans. Based on the energy running through the spell, it appears as though the Mer in question was trying to summon a lament of some sort, perhaps cause a depression cloud over the humans, making them lethargic. No matter what they were trying to do, it is clear that they failed, as no human casualties were recorded," the Priest finished, and Anna saw everyone breathe a sigh of relief.

_A cloud of depression? Sadness I would understand, because that's kinda what I was going for, sort of a hopeful sadness, but maybe I did it wrong… no wait, Elsa heard the song and _she _ wasn't sad, sure she was crying but it wasn't because she was sad or depressed, I think._ Anna shook herself, and grimaced, _maybe the song sounded different from underwater, and the priest heard it wrong?_ Anna sighed, so far it looked like they didn't want to do any more magic in case the humans sensed it and thought the Mer were attacking.

"As of this moment, all Mer are confined to their clan capitals until the humans have calmed down," Her mother suddenly declared, and Anna balked.

_Awe man! I have to sneak past the border guards now! How am I going to visit Kristoff, and Elsa? I'll have to be careful when I leave next time… and I'll have to warn Kristoff that my people are getting riled. It's bad enough we're sinking the Weselton and Arendelle naval ships that trespass on our territory, but if Mama's stopping our people from leaving the main cities then any scout might attack him._ Anna swallowed, and squared her shoulders. She was going to have to break another one of her mother's rules. _Mama's not going to be happy._

* * *

It took an extra hour to sneak past the border guards and get far enough away that they wouldn't spot her swimming upward, even then, it took a little longer to locate the usual shadow of the bottom of _The Ice Harvester_. Looking to Olaf, Anna quickly swallowed her nerves, and swam upward, picking up speed until she raced out of the water high enough to grab the edge of the boat. A familiar booming bark sounded, and a furry face suddenly filled her vision as a long tongue began licking her face.

"Gah!" Anna yelped, laughing as she tried to push the dog away, "Sven stop that, stop it, that tickles!"

"Sven, down! Leave it!" came a familiar voice, and Anna's vision cleared.

Anna smiled as Kristoff brushed his shaggy blond hair out of his face and grinned at her.

"Hey Anna," he walked over and knelt so that they were eyelevel.

"Hi Kris."

She was blushing. She _knew _she was blushing and that just made her blush harder. _No no no! Anna, stay focused, you're here for a reason, so think of that and not how nice he looks in that shirt, or warm his eyes are, or how really… FOCUS!_

Anna shook herself slightly, and then spoke, "Kristoff, I know this is gonna sound weird, but you might not want to go fishing for the next few days."

Kristoff's smile melted, and was immediately replaced by a look of concern, "What's happened, are you in trouble?"

"Umm, kinda?" Anna began, her shoulders hunched in embarrassment, "did you by any chance hear anything about a, um, I don't know, a siren?"

Kristoff blinked, and nodded slowly, "Yeah, Granpabbie heard it, and had me hide in a cave until it stopped. Apparently, it was one of the most powerful Mer spells he's ever encountered, only lasted for about a few minutes though."

"Yeah, actually about that," Anna chuckled nervously, "that might have… accidentally been me."

Kristoff's jaw dropped, but before he could start speaking, Anna held her hands up and began to speak quickly.

"It was an accident I swear! I didn't mean for anyone to get hurt, I just wanted to try out that vocalizing thing you told me about, and I actually did it quietly, whisper singing, really! But apparently volume doesn't matter, just magic so it ended up going farther than I thought and then everyone started panicking and then it turned out the _king heard me_, and I didn't know what had happened until my mother yelled at me. I swear that's everything, I'm really, really sorry!"

Kristoff blinked, processing her jumbled words, before sighing softly, "How are you a siren? Granpabbie told me about them, but he told me that they had died out when Odysseus had resisted their song."

Anna took a deep breath and sighed heavily, "The answer is actually kinda complicated. It's considered one of my people's most precious secrets, so I'm not surprised you don't know about it. It actually has to do with my clan's ancestors."

Kristoff cracked a smile and put a hand on Anna's bare shoulder, "if it's a secret, then it's okay if you don't tell me, I'll understand."

Anna looked at him, and came to a decision, knowing full well what it would mean if anyone found out, her voice became quiet, and serious; "I trust you."

Anna cleared her throat before she began; "Once long ago on the shores of a kingdom whose name is long forgotten, lived four sisters who lived at the edge of a poor village, and had almost no money to their names. In an attempt to gain coin for food, each of the sisters would stand at the edge of the road and sing to the travelers hoping that they would spare a coin for them. Since the sisters were gifted with the most beautiful voices of the kingdom, they were able to make a meager living off of just their collections.

One day, the youngest sister was singing, and a man passed her enraptured by her voice. He promptly waited until the other sisters were busy, and then proceeded to steal the youngest sister away. By the time the sisters realized what had happened, the man was long gone. Distraught and heartbroken knowing that they didn't have enough money to hire anyone to find their sister, or do it themselves, the sisters turned to the gods. They traveled for many days and nights until they reached the temple of the wind god, and sang a prayer to him, so that he may give them the ability to seek out their missing sister. Touched by their voices, and their devotion to their sister, the wind god offered the sisters a deal; he would grant them the bodies and wings of a bird-like creature so they could fly and search for their sister and once they found her they would be turned back. But the deal came with a proviso; if the sisters ever gave up on their hunt, they would be cursed to remain in the hideous forms forever, and they would be forced to live out their days singing to passing travelers.

The sisters agreed to his terms, and for many long years they searched, scouring the earth and sky for any sign of their sister. But as the years past, little by little, the sisters began to lose hope, until one day, many years later, they settled down on a tiny island with many tall mountains. Faced with nothing but failures and no leads, after searching every inch of the world several times over, the sisters cried in despair until the island was almost completely drowned in their tears, the mountains becoming jagged rocks with violent waters surrounding their peaks. It was in this moment, that the sisters gave up their search, resigned in their fates, believing that their sister was long since dead. Immediately chains appeared around their clawed feet, and the wind god, who had had an argument with Lord Poseidon, enchanted the sister's voices so that anyone who heard their lament would be granted visions of their deepest most desperate desires, hoping to spite the sea god by killing off those who traveled in his domain. But he also added a new proviso, if anyone was able to resist the siren's song, they would die in their human forms and their souls finally granted peace.

Over the years, the sirens lured many ships to their doom as the sailors would steer their ships toward the sounds of their voices, enraptured by their song, and each one sinking due to the jagged rocks, and currents. This continued for several centuries until a man by the name of Odysseus found a way to avoid the trap by telling his men to fill their ears with wax. However, out of curiosity, he himself went without, wishing to hear their song and had his men disarm him and tie him to the mast so he wouldn't throw himself to the waves. When his ship passed unharmed, the curse was broken, and the three sisters fell to the ocean. As they slowly died, they found their missing sister, who was one of our own kind's oldest incarnations.

The youngest sister told them how she had been kidnapped by a pirate captain, who had stolen her away on his ship, and told her to marry him. When she had refused, he had had her thrown to the sharks in anger. However, Poseidon, god of the seas, took pity on her and turned her into one of the first mermaids, and how she had spent the rest of her time looking for her sisters. When the older sisters finally passed on, the magic laced within their voices was passed onto their little sister, and through her, onto us of the Fjord Clan, her descendants."

"Whoa," Kristoff whistled, looking impressed, "So everyone in this 'Fjord Clan' can sing like a siren?"

Anna nodded, "mostly, but it depends. Some Mer's songs are stronger than others, and some are so weak that they can only stun a human for a few seconds, but most of the time that's all we need to get away."

"Why didn't you do that to me when we first meant?" Kristoff asked, frowning.

Anna sighed, "Well, first of all I panicked. I wasn't supposed to be anywhere near the surface, and then my fins got stuck in the net, which was really painful, so I wasn't really thinking straight. Plus, singing in front of a human is forbidden."

"Oh," Kristoff winced, "sorry about that."

"Hey, I get it, it wasn't like you were _trying _to net me," Anna grinned, "I was just in the wrong place at the _really_ wrong time."

"Well I suppose that's one way of looking at it," Kristoff said, rolled his eyes.

Anna shrugged, "hey, at least it all turned out okay. I'm just glad it didn't lead to an all out war. _That_ would have been bad."

Kristoff frowned, "aren't humans and merpeople already at war?"

"Okay, first of all, it's just Mer; calling us merpeople is like calling humans two legged mammals. Second, the Mer aren't at war with humans. The humans are at war with us."

"Well then; first of all, my apologies, and second of all, what do you mean, the Mer aren't at war with humans? No offence but, your kind's been attacking humans for a while." Kristoff argued, shocked.

"Defending our sacred places and cities from trespassing ships is _not_ considered an act of war against humans, and before you say anything, the Mer from White Cap Bay don't count." Anna held up a hand before he could interrupt.

"What's the deal with white cap bay?" Kristoff asked, looking puzzled.

Anna's face paled. She really should have seen that question coming, but she hadn't and now she could feel her chest tighten and her stomach drop. Kristoff seemed to understand the look on her face and quickly backtracked.

"I'm guessing you're not allowed to talk about that," Kristoff guessed.

"Technically I'm not supposed to be talking about _any of this_ with a human… but what happened at White Cap Bay…" Anna suppressed a shudder and continued uneasily, "It was an atrocity of unspeakable proportions, to talk of it, to a human or otherwise, is considered a horrific taboo to my people."

A look of concern mixed with suspicion took over his face, "It's that bad, huh?"

Anna shuddered again, and shifted uneasily, "Let's just say… it's my people's worst memory concerning humans."

"Oh," Was all Kristoff said, a look of sympathy on his face, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you upset."

Anna gave him a small smile, though it didn't reach her eyes, "I know, its fine, really. I just… _none_ of us like thinking about it, let alone talking about it."

"So to change the subject," Kristoff began, and Anna sent him a grateful look, "If the Mer aren't at war with humans, and you're singing upset the human king, I get why _you_ have to lay low for a while, but why do I?"

"Because," Anna began, worry making her heart clench, "my mother is worried, and for good reason, that one of the other clans, or worse the Priests of Poseidon will try to attack any human ship preemptively on sight in fear that's a warship in disguise. My people are not violent, but when roused we bury everything. It's one of the reasons that my people haven't actually declared war with yours; we have magic, you don't. The Mer would _utterly annihilate _humanity if there was a war between us, and even though the Queen hates humans, she doesn't want to be responsible for genocide."

"Utterly annihilate? You make it sound like we don't even have a fighting chance," Kristoff joked, but his face quickly paled at the somber look on Anna's face.

"Have you ever heard of the Myth of Atlantis?" she asked him, and he nodded, "They thought themselves to be greater than the Mer, and that their technology was so advanced that we wouldn't stand a chance. Their king told us that we would have to bow to him, or he would conquer the oceans. Two days later, the Priests of Poseidon launched an attack spell so powerful that their entire island _sank lower than the bottom of the ocean_. There were no confirmed survivors. I won't say that humans are weak, but you're used to fighting each other; do you really think that your people would have a chance fighting against the sea and sky themselves?"

Kristoff's face went white and he gulped, "oh gods." He whispered, and shuddered, "so how long do I stay out of the water?"

Anna thought about it, "A week after things calm down on the surface. That's usually when things start settling down on my end."

"Alright," Kristoff nodded, and then smiled, "In that case I hope he just assumes he's being paranoid, but if we're not that lucky."

He suddenly swooped down and kissed her fiercely, as Anna happily reciprocated. When he pulled away, she was slightly disappointed and out of breath, but mostly elated.

"Hopefully that should hold us for the time being," he grinned at her, and Anna couldn't help but grin impishly.

"Well… just in case," she began, and reached up and grabbed the front of his shirt, pulling him down to her again.

It took Anna another ten minutes to leave.

* * *

**So... I totally suck, because I honestly forgot the last chapter was a cliffhanger of sorts. Between writers block and college, and my overly perfectionist nature, I rewrote this chapter _way_ too many times. I apologize for the wait, and I hope it's worth it to all of you. Hope you all had great holidays, and I'll _try_ to be a bit more productive (though I'm taking summer classes, and school will always come first).**

**Peace out**

**-Batteriez Not Included**


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